NEAR SIDE

SHAL­LOW water close to the near bank isn’t nec­es­sar­ily al­ways the best place to tar­get. You may be able to catch here in spells, but you’re un­likely to make it work all day. Some­times the mar­gins won’t take off un­til the last hour, when the big­ger fish feed. Pel­lets can be good down the edge fed lit­tle and of­ten, but to catch those bonus late carp try pot­ting in full cups of loose, wet ground­bait. Look for signs of fish in shal­low water and fish a large bait such as a bunch of dead mag­gots, a whole worm or dou­ble corn.